Worship attendance is important on a number of different levels. On a personal level, a school principal would agree that students do better academically if they don't miss a lot of school. Coaches would say players do better on game day if they don't miss a lot of practices. On an institutional level, that same principal and coach could use school and practice attendance as a measure of their institution's health. Not surprisingly, pastors and church leaders think about the same kind of things.
Worship attendance will impact your spiritual health personally and it also affects the church insitutionally. You know that you arent going to have a deeply moving experience of God or spiritual epiphany every time you go to worship. There will be those days you leave worship and think, "I didn't get anything out of that."
This reminds me of something that I've heard Bishop Willimon say that goes something like this: "God has a lot of big things to deal with like natual disaster and starvation. Maybe you didn't get anything out of worship today because it wasn't for you today. God was busy working on someone else. And who knows, maybe God was hoping to get your help speaking to that someone else on God's behalf."
This opens my eyes to see that worship attendance affects both my personal spiritual health and the institution's health. In other words, there are bigger reasons for attending worship than whether or not I get something out of it personally.
There are times when God will encourage me to keep the faith, step out in the face of fear, or lay down my bitterness once again, just by being among those God gathered for worship. It's hard to describe. The "community gathered" is itself a proclamation of the gospel of Jesus resurrection. There have been times when I've heard, "Jesus is Alive!" through the presence of others: young, old, rich, poor, male female, black, white, spanish, english, strong faith, weak faith, no faith, republican, democrat, not even American.... better than I've heard it through the sermon.
So the next time you think, "I didn't really get anything out of that" when you go to worship - consider that God may be using you as His message to someone else. And didn't a wise man once say that we will only find life when we give ours away?
Don't take a vacation from worship this summer! Even if you are on vacation, look for a place to worship. You and God's church will be healthier for it!
2 comments:
I love to attend church when I visit my son in rural Tennessee.
The typical Methodist churches are very old and small.
The pews, alter, kneeling rail, choir loft, and other things are old and interesting.
The Pastor has 2 or 3 churches to travel to and the bulletins often mention all of them.
I always take the opportunity to pray humbly to my Lord at the kneeling rails.
They serve the grape juice in little vials that are already at the rail. After the pastor passes out the little wafers, we all eat and drink at once. It is always very unique experience for me.
Phil Lutz
While cruising on vacation recently we attended two onboard church services. Both were simple, clear and fulfilling. Here is a story from one of the services:
MOM’S EMPTY CHAIR
A woman's daughter had asked the local pastor to come and pray with her mother. When the pastor arrived, he found the woman lying in bed with her head propped up on two pillows. An empty chair sat beside her bed.
The pastor assumed that the woman had been informed of his visit... 'I guess you were expecting me, he said. 'No, who are you?' said the mother. The pastor told her his name and then remarked, 'I saw the empty chair and I figured you knew I was going to show up.'
'Oh yes, the chair,' said the bedridden woman; ‘would you mind closing the door?' Puzzled, the Pastor shut the door. 'I’ve never told anyone this, not even my daughter,' said the woman. 'But all of my life I have never known how to pray. At church I used to hear the pastor talk about prayer, but it went right over my head.
' I abandoned any attempt at prayer,' the old woman continued, 'until one day four years ago, my best friend said to me, 'Prayer is just a simple matter of having a conversation with Jesus. Here is what I suggest, 'Sit down in a chair; place an empty chair in front of you, and in faith see Jesus on the chair.
It's not scary because he promised, 'I will be with you always'. 'Then just speak to him in the same way you're doing with me right now.'
'So, I tried it and I've liked it so much that I do it a couple of hours every day. I'm careful though. If my daughter saw me talking to an empty chair, she'd either have a nervous breakdown or send me off to the funny farm.'
The pastor was deeply moved by the story and encouraged the old woman to continue on the journey. Then he prayed with her and returned to the church.
Two nights later the daughter called to tell the pastor that her mother had passed away that afternoon. Did she die in peace?' he asked. Yes, when I left the house about two o'clock, she called me over to her bedside, told me she loved me and kissed me on the cheek. When I got back from the store an hour later, I found her.
But there was something strange about her death. Apparently, just before Mom died, she leaned over and rested her head on the chair beside the bed. What do you make of that?'
The pastor wiped a tear from his eye and said, 'I wish we could all go like that.'
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